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A Dialogue on Youth Leadership

Students explore the connections between young people in Florida campaigning for gun reform and youth leaders in Black Lives Matter – and consider why the media has focused so much less attention on the latter.

Teen Activism: Emma Gonzalez Tweets

Invite students to read the tweets below, which are also included in this handout (Handout 1).

Explain that the handout includes a set of tweets by Emma Gonzalez, a student from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Gonzalez and her classmates have become activists in the fight to stop gun violence following a shooting at their school that killed 17 people.

After they've read the tweets, ask students to discuss:

What stands out for you about these tweets?

What does Emma Gonzalez say about her own community in these tweets?

What does she say about Chicago?

How does she describe the meeting with the students from Chicago?

What does she say about the platform the Parkland students have established?

Teen Activism: Media Responses

Next, ask students to read Media Responses to Student Activism below, and also in the pdf handout (Handout 2). Explain that this handout includes quotes from a variety of media sources about activism by the Parkland students and by young people who have been part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

After they’ve read the handout, ask students to turn to a partner, or meet in triads, to discuss their thoughts and feelings about what they read.

Bring students back to the full group to share out what they discussed according to the following questions:

What does the handout say about the student activists from Parkland, Florida?

What are some of the words used to describe these young activists?

What does the handout say about the young black activists who have been mobilizing?

Media Responses to Student Activism

“The shooting massacre of 17 people … at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., not only reignited the debate over gun control but also launched a group of teenage activists. Students from the school have given dozens of interviews, gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and visited the White House and the Florida state Capitol. They’ve challenged senators and congressional representatives on live television and gone viral in videos of their pleas to prevent another slaughter.” http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-parkland-student-activists-20180223-htmlstory.html

“Experts say the [Parkland] teens … are uniquely positioned to become the leading voices in the gun debate. This generation has grown up as native users of social media and have never known a time when there weren't mass shootings at schools. "This has happened in their community in their school. They’re given this window of opportunity to speak out for a generation that is tired of being unable to speak out against gun violence," …. The students are of the right age and era to articulate exactly how gun violence has affected them.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/how-parkland-survivors-became-advocates-gun-reform-n849596

“The students are smart, articulate, and direct in what they want: gun reform, or at least a country where schools are safer—and they're mobilizing … [using] social media. There have been efforts on Snapchat that track protests and walkouts. There have been teenagers connecting with each other through Twitter hashtags to present a unified front.” https://psmag.com/education/after-the-parkland-shooting-listen-to-the-teens

Edna Chavez, a 17-year-old senior from South Los Angeles, made an impassioned speech about gun violence at the student led March for Our Lives in March 2018. In this lesson, students learn some background about South L.A. and consider Chavez's speech, which puts gun violence in a larger societal context.